The Wizard's War (21 page)

“Hello, Ron. I wish I had known from the moment you
arrived that one of the weapons was here.”

“How did you find out?”

“Roshne told me you were here and then your father’s
demon told me why. I would like to help you get the weapon. From what I hear,
you need to win the last battle to get the weapon. I will win it for you.”

For some reason, Drake was gaping at me and the
Guardian. I nearly brushed it off, until I realized Drake never met the man.
“Oh, Drake, this is Azyle, Guardian of Mulo.”

“And does he fight for you a lot?”

“No, that would be weird. Wait, I didn’t know you
spoke English.”

“I learned when Dylan became the Guardian, since his
mother language is English. Where is Hail?” Azyle asked. “Usually, he is never
away from your side.” Seimei nudged him affectionately in the abdomen.

“Sen and I have been protecting him just fine,” Drake
said angrily.

I stared at him, deeply confused by his odd anger.
Sen was the emotional one, Drake was quiet and kind. To confound me even
further, Azyle narrowed his eyes just a centimeter as he tilted his head up
ever so slightly.

“That is not how I see it.”

What the hell is wrong with these people?
They
acted one way apart and lost their minds in the same room. I was supposed to be
a super genius, like my dad, but I couldn’t figure these idiots out.

The only thing to my knowledge that my dad ever had a
problem understanding was when someone was hitting on him, which frustrated my
mother to high heavens. When it didn’t involve women, he could flatten Sherlock
Holmes easy. I mean, it made no sense to me why my dad couldn’t tell when a
woman was flirting with him, yet he could tell that a man was a traitor by the
color of his socks.

Drake stood and I realized I had been daydreaming
while they argued. Although Sen was driven to outbursts due to his dragon
nature, Drake and Azyle were both extremely patient and friendly. Deducing that
it had to be the stress of the upcoming demon war, I stood quickly and took
Drake’s hand.

“Sit down, it’s okay,” I said, pushing him gently
back on the bed.

“It’s thanks to me Ron wasn’t hurt!” he snapped at
the Guardian. “Where the hell were you? Or are you just sucking up to Dylan’s
son?”

“I am so much more experienced than you, human.”

“I am fae! I could tell you to kill yourself and you
would!”

“Woah, woah, calm down.” I sat beside him on the bed
with my legs under me and gathered his hands into my lap. When he tried to
glare at Azyle, I gently grasped his chin to make him look at me. “Azyle just
wants to help us. Guardians really just want to feel needed. Sen had his turn
and you had yours. Now it’s my turn,” I said with my happy smile.

“No!” Drake, Azyle, and Sen said simultaneously.

Seeing Sen’s eyes open, I patted his arm. “How are
you feeling?”

“Cold. Are there any blankets?” He coughed quietly.

It was a dry, shallow cough, but he shouldn’t have
had a couch at all. I reached over him to get the covers that were bunched
against the wall and tucked them around him, then checked his forehead with the
back of my hand.

“No fever. I want to check for infection, but without
my magic, I can’t do much. If my magic returns, I will fight the battle. If it
doesn’t, then Azyle is up,” I said. They could argue about it all they wanted,
but when my powers returned, none of them had a leg to stand on.

“Now that that is settled… I wish I could offer you a
more elegant room to sleep in, but for the duration of the test, the monks
demand that you remain here.”

“Well, I appreciate your effort. What I really want
is a bath, so maybe you can find me one when this is over. Because, obviously,
we will win and get the battle axe.”

*          *          *

The bell rang again and my heart sank. My powers were
still absent as we appeared in the field. I almost hoped Azyle wouldn’t arrive
so that I had an excuse to go on, even powerless. Of course, I knew winning was
more important than my pride. Just when I started to feel hope, Azyle appeared
in front of us.

“Are you ready?” I asked.

He nodded. “I will win.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Drake made a startled sound, but Sen punched him in
the arm. “Shit, ow!”

“What was that for?” I asked the dragon-mage, who just
shook his head. When I looked at Azyle, he was staring at my hair. “What?” I
asked, wishing I had a brush and mirror on me.

“You have… your hair is turning black with bright
blue streaks in it.”

I reached deep and my energy finally responded.
Excited, I held up my hands in which energy formed in dark red spheres. “Thank
you, Azyle, but I can take it from here. Everyone but Seimei off my field; this
is my party now.”

“You could lose your powers in the middle of it!”
Drake warned.

“And I would still win.”

“I must suggest that you take your griffin out of the
battle. They have a creature that can take the form and power of anything it
faces. If you allow your griffin on the field, they can bring their beast.”

I nodded even as Seimei growled at him. “I can’t risk
you,” I said to her.

Drake and Sen started arguing, which I didn’t listen
to. “We have to get off the field now!” Azyle said to my friends. A moment
later, I was alone on the field.

Then my opponent appeared, looking exactly like the
previous two warriors, with a sword and a metal shield. The countdown was still
going when the warrior drew his sword and came at me. I pulled my power around
me to create a shield which successfully deflected the enemy’s blade. The crowd
screamed with excitement.

I created an energy pulse and shot it at the warrior,
who held out his metal shield. My energy hit his shield and rebounded right
back at me. Fortunately, I was unaffected. He dropped his sword, but instead of
hitting the ground, it shot at me as if wielded by an invisible hand. I raised
the axe in time to deflect it, barely.

The sword sliced through the air with more skill than
a lot of people I knew. My uncle taught me combat with and without weapons and
my grandfather taught me martial arts, but I never felt like it was really
important. I always thought that when it came to fighting, Hail would protect
me. Still, I was able to block the strikes up until the point when the warrior
swiped my feet out from under me.

I hit the ground hard enough that the air was knocked
out of my lungs. As the warrior stood over me, I put my hands and swung my legs
up with enough momentum to flip me back up onto my feet. Before the enemy could
form another attack, I barreled straight into him. He was huge, but I managed
to knock him onto his back, for he was a lot lighter than I had expected.

He pushed up with his right leg, flipping us so that
he was on top. His left hand wrapped around my throat and he held up his right
hand. Instantly, his sword flew him, which he pressed against my chest.

A split second later, he was tossed off me and his
sword went flying. Seimei reared up. Familiar with her behavior, I knew she was
about to claw his heart out. Ikiru always went for the throat, but Seimei had a
penchant for tearing out hearts.

“Seimei, no!” She promptly retreated. “Get back to
Drake and Sen.” She growled at the warrior as she backed up slowly, then turned
and took flight back to the stands. The warrior sat up and reached for his
sword. I could have slit his throat right then, but then I could never have
looked myself in the mirror again.

And I loved my damn mirror.

Once the warrior had his sword, he stood and faced
me. He stabbed the sword into the ground before him and I felt his energy flood
the ground beneath me. He was really powerful.

The ground burst upward all around me, but it wasn’t
just a mere explosion. Earth clumped and twisted around my body like a
forty-foot long snake and squeezed. Rocks scratched my skin and dirt got into
places I really didn’t want it to be.

I created a shield that pushed outwards, which was
difficult because of the weight of the rocks and dirt. When the dirt returned
to the ground, I let my shield go. Just as I was about to strike with
lightning, the balance stirred, as if it was frustrated. My lightning was
enhanced by the balance, so I pulled back at the last second. Instead, the
ground in front of the warrior exploded from my power, showering the warrior
with dirt.

While he was distracted, I ran at him with the axe
ready, only to be stopped by his own energy shield. Although any decent weapon
could have easily broken the warrior’s weak force, the axe I was dealing with
would have disintegrated. In fact, I was highly doubtful of its capability to
spread butter.

I let the darkness unleash my energy onto the shield,
which instantly crumbled, but the warrior grunted in pain. Destroying his
shield hurt him.

I swung the axe, which he deflected with his sword.
He was stronger, but I was faster, so by the time he blocked my move, I was
already going for another strike. My body was moving before I even realized he
had the opening; I swiped his feet out from under him and had the axe blade to
his throat. The chainmail over his throat could protect him from something
shallow, but not at from where I had him. The balance stirred, urging me to
kill him.

“Do it,” the warrior said, his voice metallic from
the helmet.

I pressed the blade against his armor. This was what
I had to do to win the weapon. This was what I had to do to win the war. I had
to beat the demons.

How does that make me any better than the demons?
The balance pushed against my soul, demanding I kill him. How was I supposed to
become the most powerful being in the universe if I did whatever I was told?
How was I supposed to make my dad proud of me if I went around killing people
while he was trying to heal people?

I pulled the axe away and held out my hand. The
warrior reached up, not for my hand but to open the face guard of his helmet.

“Holy sugar!” I cussed. The warrior was a woman!

“You have to kill me to win,” she said.

“Winning isn’t everything.”

She took off her helmet to reveal long, braided, dark
purple hair and deep, dark blue eyes. Her facial features were smooth,
symmetrical, and womanly without being juvenile or too old. She climbed to her
feet without taking my hand, so I took a step back.

I was so distracted that I nearly missed it when the
axe started to glow blue. The rust vanished and the chips filled in until the
weapon looked brand new. Power emitted from the weapon.

I had the god weapon all along.

Drake and Sen ran up to us and stubbornly placed
themselves between the warrior and me, as if she was about to attack me. Azyle,
on the other hand, clapped his hand on the woman’s shoulder. “You did good,
Sheena,” he said.

“What?!” Sen screeched, drowning out my own response.
“You know her?!”

“I knew the son of Dylan would insist on fighting his
own battles, and I knew he had to win at any cost. Sheena, who has been an ally
of Dylan this entire time, was willing to sacrifice herself so you could get
the axe. Now, if you would come this way, I have prepared a bath for you as you
requested.”

I followed him without waiting saying another word to
my friends or Sheena. Seimei followed us. We went through the opening off the
field, down the dark hallway, and through many more tunnels until we finally
reached a wooden door, which opened on its own as we neared. What was in the
room beyond left me speechless.

It appeared to be a twenty-by-thirty swimming pool
with crystal-clear water. The inside walls and base of the pool were made of
wide, smooth rocks. Blue lights dotted the stone ceiling like stars, although
it was the flowers that provided the most light. There were dozens of small
flowers floating in the pool that each glowed with a different color. The
actual walls of the room as well as columns around the pool were white marble.

“Would you like maids to help you?” Azyle asked.

“No, thank you.”

“I will leave you to it, then.”

He left and I went straight for the stone steps. They
were shallow and smooth, and the water was hot. It was hotter than the hot
springs at home, which was awesome because I liked really hot baths even though
it wasn’t good for my hair. The water reached just below my shoulders.

I spent a good half an hour rubbing away the dirt and
letting the heat dissolve the tension in my muscles. I was enjoying it so much
in fact, that I didn’t notice I was being watched until I heard the door open.

Drake and Sen were sitting beside the pool when
Sheena and Azyle entered. Sheena’s satin, button-up, silver shirt fit her
perfectly while her black pants looked painted on. She was about five-five,
athletic, but shapely.

My friends stood quickly to block her from me. “What
do you want?” Sen asked.

“Nothing with you.” She turned towards me,
effectively brushing him off. “Why did you stop? You risked the weapon by
choosing not to kill me.”

I pushed my hair away from my eyes and walked proudly
up the steps to stand between my friends. I was small, but I wouldn’t be
intimidated by anyone, not even a woman. “I had everything under control. I
knew exactly what I was doing.”

I could see words being carefully planned behind her
unbelievably blue eyes, though her exact thoughts were not easy to read on her
face.

“In that case, I heard you were an exceptional
healer. Would you take a moment to check me over? Every time I come near you,
my heart starts beating out of control,” she said. She casually unbuttoned her
shirt and displayed her perfectly formed breasts.

“It’s probably your magic reacting to mine,” I said,
placing my hand gently on her chest nowhere near her breasts. I did the
shallowest scan possible, using as little energy as I could. “Yep, you’re
fine.”
Hell, more than fine.